Entry #1 to #sportsphotographycontest

Hi my fellow steemians. I'm pleased to enter this photograph into the #sportsphotographycontest @photocontests promoted and curated by @juliank

I used to love white water kayaking, the rush is one of the most exhilarating I've experienced, the only other adrenaline rushes that came close to it were off road motorbike scambling and driving a rally car on the same forest track stages of the Lombard RAC rally near Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire.

Being at the mercy of the force of heavy, powerful flowing water really is something else though. The power of the water is so great it can't be underestimated, and must always be respected. Well, if one has the will to live that is. I've had 2 close encounters with death in water, both times because I got distracted and lost my ability to be focussing 100% on what I was doing. I was very lucky twice, once getting caught up in a riptide after capsizing whilst surf kayaking 3 to 4 meter waves off an island in Thailand, and once on the biggest non transversable weir on the river Trent, Cromwell weir, on this occasion a fishing boating incident where I got stuck in the back drag currents taking me into the weir, its a recirculating weir of enormous power, and not one you could get out of. There is a monument on this weir dedicated to 5 soldiers that died when they accidently went over the top of the wier in kayaks during some night maneuvers training.

However, to harness the power of fast flowing water is something else though, using it to weave your way from rapid to rapid, pull stunts in the waves , surf kayaking, to dropping huge distances on mountain rivers and streams into plunge pools that are hardly big enough to turn a kayak around in.

It's also one of the best forms of exercise you can perform, every muscle in your body is worked hard.

Equipment and Settings

Fuji x100s
23mm f2 lens
1/2500sec, f5.6 iso800

I hope you enjoy this entry, if you do, please consider upvoting, commenting, following and/or resteeming.

Any reward money from upvotes that I receive will be directly invested in steempower so that I can help fairly distribute rewards to other worthwhile, quality posts too.

I only post my own photographs and believe those that don't are proper shysters!

Like many, I'm fed up of seeing so much dire rubbish by some of the regulars that consistantly make the trending posts, sometimes multiple times a day, which although within the rules of steemit, seems very unfair on those who post content of value. If anyone would care to delegate me some SP, I can assure you that it will be used thoughtfully to reward only the high quality content of worthy steemians. Humble thanks for your consideration.